The last couple of working parties of 2018 have seen some significant progress made with some very visible items on the engine’s chassis.

The inside right connecting rod has been installed whilst both sets of coupling rods (left and right) have been trial fitted. These require very little further work to see them fitted more permanently.

All the components for the inside left connecting rod have been prepped for fitting, the actual fitting being paused until the new air brake pipes running down the inside of the frame had been finished. This has been achieved allowing the connecting rod to be fitted early in 2019. Rapid progress on the outside connecting rods is expected through January.

In early December Eddie Draper of Ricardo Rail visited both the tender and the engine as part of their periodic checks on progress. This successful visit means that in early 2019 the tender tank can be reunited with the chassis taking it much closer to completion.